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“We don’t need to tell you a cheesy story about the romance behind an engagement,” said William & Son’s head of jewellery Clemence Devaux, at the launch of the brand’s first in-house engagement ring range at Claridge’s last week. “You already know all of that. Instead, we’ve focused on the design and the quality of the diamonds.” Having worked on the line alongside a team of in-house designers since she arrived at William & Son over four years ago, Devaux is demonstrably excited about its launch, and rightly so.

William & Son Lumiere engagement ring in platinum with a 2-carat pear-cut diamond, £41,250

Entitled Lumiere, the range is as classic as you’d expect from a Mayfair-based purveyor of silverware, backgammon sets and “kit and tackle for elegant gamesmanship”; but at the same time features the tiniest subversive edge, fitting for a company founded just 17 years ago (a spring chicken, in Mayfair terms) by a breakaway member of the Asprey family. “William & Son is known for being eclectic, traditional and luxurious so we’ve tried to come up with something that really resembles our brand,” explains Devaux.

William & Son Lumiere engagement ring in platinum with a 1-carat round brilliant diamond, £18,990

The collection centres around three white gold and diamond engagement rings of varied sizes: a three-carat cushion-cut, a two-carat pear-cut and a one-carat round brilliant-cut. Each central stone is framed by a tapered halo of diamonds, puckering like a mouth as it meets the pavé-set split shank, set with marquise-cut diamonds in the corners.

William & Son Lumiere engagement ring in platinum with a 2-carat pear-cut diamond, £41,250

“Madame de Pompadour’s lips were the inspiration for marquise-cut diamonds so the idea was to design the ring like a mouth, kissing the central diamond. We thought that was quite romantic,” says Devaux. The result is an unusual take on the traditional and ever-popular halo design. Central stones are elevated slightly, allowing more light to shine through the diamond and creating a gently undulating silhouette. An additional row of pavé diamonds on the front of the shank is an unexpected, hidden twist. “In my opinion you can never have too many diamonds,” laughs Devaux.

While engagement rings have long made up a significant proportion of William & Son’s fine jewellery business, until now the house has only offered custom-made traditional styles – classic solitaires, vintage-inspired clusters and so on. The Lumiere range is the brand’s first signature design, but the made-to-order service remains; in keeping with William & Son’s ethos as a house built on bespoke craftsmanship.

“This is the first time we’ve given the engagement ring our own design twist. But a lot of our customers like to find their own perfect stone so our priority was to be able to set any shape or size stone inside that design,” explains Devaux. That means the team can re-set a family heirloom diamond into the Lumiere design, or source a coloured gemstone of any size.

William & Son Lumiere wedding band in white gold with diamonds, £2,255

Made to order in Hatton Garden – the Asprey family has had a close relationship with the jewellery atelier for generations – the rings are created in four to six weeks from the day the diamond is chosen. Complementary stud earrings and simple pendants complete the range, along with a simple pavé-set wedding band, and additional wedding-day jewels can be made on order to match. But after four years of development, Devaux is in no hurry to move on to the next range. “We like to start off with a core offer and then develop one-off magnificent pieces that go with it.” Good things come to those who wait.